Famous Royal Coin Collector: King Farouk Of Egypt

Posted by Peter on July 27th, 2009

King Farouk the First of Egypt, reigned from 1936 until 1952. He was a prolific collector. His coin collection included an estimated 8,500 gold coins and medals. King Farouk made most of his coin purchases in the 1940s, in an era when a numismatic dollar and an Egyptian pound went a long way.

An interesting aspect was that when the American dealers supplied the king with coins worth more than $10,000 it usually took a long time to receive payment, as it has to be routed to the Egyptian treasury, whereas the king had the authority to authorize payment of the smaller invoices. Not surprisingly, the American dealers soon learned to limit the invoices to less than $10,000. This is also one major factor that King Farouk had amassed one of the largest, most important collections of coins in the history of numismatics at the minimum costs.

On July 23, 1952, the military overthrew the government of King Farouk. Although he never reigned, his 17-year-old son succeeded him and became the last king of Egypt.

The famous Palace Collections of Egypt coin auction, featuring the numismatic collection of the former King Farouk of Egypt, took place at Koubbeh Palace, Cairo, in February and March 1954.